Ranking The 'Fast And Furious' Franchise Films From Best To Worst

This weekend sees the sixth (!) film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, "Fast and Furious 6" (or, according to director Justin Lin, just "Furious Six") race into theaters. Once thought as a kind of also-ran franchise in the Universal canon, it has quickly become one of the studio's most important properties, with each subsequent film getting bigger and more bombastic (if not genuinely better). Sure, these movies might not be high art but they are consistently entertaining in a way that few Hollywood franchises are, full of muscle cars and beautiful women and tough guys who pummel each other just for the heck of it. In the spirit of "Fast and Furious," we thought we would run down every entry in the entire franchise, from best to worst. So put on your tiniest muscle shirt, grab that energy drink, and buckle up.

This weekend sees the sixth (!) film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, "Fast and Furious 6" (or, according to director Justin Lin, just "Furious Six") race into theaters. Once thought of as a kind of also-ran franchise in the Universal canon, it has quickly become one of the studio's most important properties, with each subsequent film getting bigger and more bombastic (if not genuinely better). Sure, these movies might not be high art but they are consistently entertaining in a way that few Hollywood franchises are, full of muscle cars and beautiful women and tough guys who pummel each other just for the heck of it. We've already run our official review of "Fast & Furious 6," but in the spirit of the series, we thought we would run down every entry in the entire franchise, from worst to best. So put on your tiniest muscle shirt, grab that energy drink, and buckle up.

6. "2 Fast 2 Furious" (John Singleton, 2003)

Already it seemed like the franchise was running out of
gas, when John Singleton took over for Rob Cohen (the original film had
revitalized his flagging career), and Vin Diesel instead chose the
tent-pole non-starter "XXX" (about an extreme sports-loving
secret agent) over the sequel. This entry swapped Southern California
for Miami and saw Singleton, already an underappreciated stylist, go
fucking HAM. The original's over-the-top stylistic flourishes like the
zooming-through-the-engine shots are nothing compared to what Singleton
employs – single tracking shots that zoom between each car, shots of
just the drivers' eyes (a cue quoted verbatim from old episodes of "Speed Racer"),
and the "warp speed" gag from the first movie pushed to delirious,
almost psychedelic heights. All of this has the cumulative effect of
leaving the whole thing feel more like "Mario Kart" than "Vanishing Point."
The elasticity of the physical "Fast and Furious" universe was being
pushed further, with an opening sequence involving a group of racers
jumping across a drawbridge that is being raised. The fun of "2 Fast 2
Furious" is somewhat undermined by the lack of original cast members and
original plotting (thieves are replaced by drug runners and that's
about the only difference in terms of narrative), feeling the most like
an unnecessary cash grab in a film series designed to feel like
unnecessary cash grabs. Perhaps the
movie is most notable for introducing the characters played by Tyrese
and Ludacris, who would become major players in subsequent films and
intrinsic pieces of the "Fast and Furious" mythology (as it were).

5. "Fast & Furious" (Justin Lin, 2009)

Unfortunately, the first film to reunite the original
"Fast and the Furious" cast (the title was shortened and an ampersand
added, presumably for variety's sake?) is also one of the more
awkward entries, a weird in-between movie that's got to set up a bunch
of things and find a way to reunite the characters in an organic way, but
instead comes across about as subtly as two super-charged cars smashing into
each other going 100 miles per hour. Dominic Toretto's lover, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is murdered (or so it seems),
which leads him back into the United States to try and solve the murder
and get revenge. The best part of "Fast and Furious" is a prologue set
in the Dominic Republic with Dom and his crew hijacking a fuel tanker
that’s like something out of one of the "Mad Max" movies. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is hunting a drug boss
that has a connection to Letty's murder – do you think these old
friends and rivals will cross paths? Possibly while performing some
illegal street racing? While Justin Lin shows much of the same ingenuity
and exuberance that was present in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo
Drift" (the GPS-aided race is a really nice touch), this kind of
narrative, a holdover from the first two films, feels like it has hit a
patch of rough road, leading to the abrupt (and wholly welcome) tonal
shift of "Fast Five." Even though the events of "Fast & Furious"
ripple out into the other parts of Lin's little mini-trilogy, it's
probably the least essential entry, besides the second installment.

4. "The Fast and the Furious" (Rob Cohen, 2001)

Well, this is the one that started it all. For better or worse. The title was borrowed from an old American International Pictures B-movie and the plot was lifted wholesale from "Point Break,"
with a plucky cop (Paul Walker, with frosted-tips farm-boy good looks
and limited acting ability) going undercover to bust some criminals who
take part in underground street racing (led by Vin Diesel, equal
parts charisma and muscles). Until 'Tokyo Drift,' this is the entry that
was most engaged with the culture behind the illegal streetracing,
which lends a certain amount of realism to a movie otherwise defined by
huge leaps in logic and gang members that wouldn't be out of place in
some millennial remake of "The Warriors." It was based, in part, on a Vibe article called "Racer X" by Ken Li
that chronicled illegal street-racing in New York City. So far none of
the movies have been based, in part or whole, in the Big Apple. Compared to the other movies, it's pretty leisurely paced (director Rob
Cohen is fond of long, glacial establishing shots that sometimes
aimlessly survey an entire city), and way more comic book-y than you
probably remember (there are moments where the world outside literally
bends around the car like they're going into warp drive). It is also
hopelessly dated-- yes, that's a Limp Bizkit song on the soundtrack, and
Ja Rule in the cast, and at one point Jordana Brewster flirts while seductively sipping a Snapple.
The almost painfully awful script allows for some philosophical
pontificating on the part of Diesel's Dominic Toretto, with things like,
"it don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile – winning's winning"
and "I live my life a quarter mile at a time." Deep stuff. But of course
the thing that really matters are the races – this is easily the most
race-centered entry in the entire franchise, with the most memorable
moment probably be the sequence involving an eighteen-wheel truck and a
jellybean-sized sports car zipping underneath it. In this moment, the
physical reality of the "Fast and Furious" franchise, where actual
physics is only loosely considered, was born.